To the tune of “What shall we do with a drunken sailor?”
What can we do with twenty billion?
What can we do with twenty billion?
What can we do with twenty billion?
Early in this Congress.
Help a lot of homeless veterans
Help a lot of homeless veterans
Help a lot of homeless veterans
Early in this Congress.
Retrain workers in coal country
Retrain workers in coal country
Retrain workers in coal country
Early in this Congress.
Triple Coast Guard operations
Triple Coast Guard operations
Triple Coast Guard operations
Early in this Congress.
Notes
Feel free to modify, extend, repost, or tell me I have no musical talent...
As I've noted elsewhere, I tend to be more productive when I have something to say. .For obvious reasons, I will have a lot to say in 2017 and the years following. I hope to be able to say "...and we made a difference."
In any case, this is directed at those who think spending $20 billion on a physical barrier is a worthwhile thing to do. The issue, for me, is that if you're going to spend twenty billion, make it count. There's a lot of things that it could be spent on, but I've picked a few things that conservatives support (veterans, jobs, border security), and avoided causes that trigger negative reactions among conservatives (refugees, the poor, education).
Currently (FY 2016), about $40 million is spent on the Homeless Veteran reintegration program. Twenty billion would pay for this program FIVE HUNDRED times over.
It has been estimated that retraining everyone in the coal industry for new jobs in the (growing) solar power industry would take between $180 million and $1.5 billion. Taking $500 million as a median estimate, twenty billion would pay for such retraining FORTY times over.
The Coast Guard's current (2017) budget is around $10 billion. An extra $20 billion could triple this amount. Customs and Border Protection get about $800 million; Immigration and Customs Enforcement about $10 billion; FBI about $10 billion.